Seasons of Change
by Too-Many-Silly-Love-Songs
Summary: Despite everything he and Anna had been through, Kristoff realizes that he and the Snow Queen make a much better match than he had possibly imagined. A story about how things can change in a single year. Adventure, romance, family, drama, friendship, and bonding. Kristoff and Elsa. T because sometimes Kristoff just feels the need to curse.
1. Chapter 1: Winter: Part One

It was winter. Her season. The only time of year where she could let loose and have her powers blend right into the norm. Not that anyone minded her mid-summer ice rinks, not anymore, but it was still nice to not have to worry too much about limiting her icy output. She'd gone wandering up through the mountains, curious to see how her kingdom of isolation had fared since she'd gone back to ruling Arendelle. It was her first day off from meeting with dignitaries and negotiating trade partners in a very long time, so she decided to spend it by herself. As much as she loved her sister and Olaf, they were both a bit too excitable and talkative to stand being around all the time. She was more subdued, herself, apart from her powers, of course. The snow fell lightly around her and she smiled, loving the fact that she needn't wear a cloak. Avoiding such cumbersome garments was certainly one advantage of never being cold.

After a few hours, she looked up at the sky, realizing that it was well past noon at this point. Her castle hadn't seemed nearly so far when she first created it; then again, much of that night was a blur. With another glance at the quickly darkening sky, she decided to trek only five minutes longer. If she still hadn't come upon her crystalline staircase by then, she would head back.

No luck. Sighing in defeat, she turned and began her return to her kingdom, back to paperwork and visiting royalty and never-ending expectations. Above her head, the first stars began to shine. Soon enough, the light of the moon became her only guide. Oh, why hadn't she thought ahead to a situation like this? She was usually so well-prepared! She heard howling in the distance as she grew increasingly wary of her situation. She could've sworn, for a moment, that she saw several sets of eyes watching her as she made her way down the mountains but shook off the thought. That idea was too terrifying for her to ponder for too long. She soon realized that she should've worried about it a little longer; if she had, she may have been prepared for what was to come.

Before she could register an oncoming attack, there were more than a dozen wolves jumping on top of her. In her adrenaline-fueled panic, she iced a couple of them, no problem, but they had her outnumbered. She felt one tear into her side with its teeth and she cried out in response. As she weakly kicked it away, another clawed at her head, practically ripping her cheek and the side of her head to shreds. She felt her hair grow warm, and realized that it came from the blood that was beginning to pour from her head. This was it. She was done for. But, just when she thought that they were going to end her for good, she noticed a tree towering over where she now lay. Conjuring up all the strength she had, she used her magic to bring down the snow on the tree onto the pack of wolves. Frightened by the cold material that spread across their backs, the wolves hightailed it away from her even faster than she could have hoped for. She had a moment of reprieve from the battle, before all the pain set back in. She tried to push herself up from the ground, but only ended up collapsing back to the ground in a heap, moments later.

Time passed, she had no idea how long, and she felt herself slip away. There was nothing she could think of to do to help herself. She was truly alone. She was going to die here, where no one would ever find her. It was all over for her. Just as this terrifying thought began to set in, she heard a someone, or something, approach.

"Hey! You! Are you- wait a sec, Elsa? I mean, Your Majesty! Hey, is that you? What're ya doing out here in the snow?"

Her whole body, her brain included, felt like mush. She tried to respond, but instead found herself only able to emit a soft moan. The half-visible face of the man before her swam in and out of focus and, somewhere deep inside her, she realized that she recognized him. He was Anna's friend. Good guy. Ice guy. Spent too much time with his smelly moose or whatever. But, for the life of her, she couldn't focus enough to remember his name. The more she thought about it, the more frustrated she became with her mush brain and she writhed in annoyance.

"Hey, hey, hey, stop. You're gonna hurt yourself and- Sven, move your furry butt!- oh man." He shoved his companion out of the way and stopped in his tracks when he realized it was already too late for that. The snow around her was soaked a deep crimson and much of her usually light hair matched. Her clothes were torn and she seemed to be mumbling nonsense; her usually regal composure clearly had dissipated in the night's events. He instinctively stepped forward, reaching out towards her, but the tattered girl before him sensed the movement.

"No. Please. Don't," she pleaded, with as much force as she could muster.

He stopped, reluctantly. "Your Majesty, you need assistance. I can take you back to the castle if you would like or-"

"Please, just leave," she mumbled sleepily.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. Why won't you just let me help you?" He jumped back suddenly as a dozen razor-sharp icicles erupted from the ground, nearly piercing him in the chest, and cutting him off from the queen. "Hey! Watch it!"

"I'm…s-so sorry. C-can't s-s-stop it. Please. Ple..a..se. Go. G-o." Her words were becoming increasingly slurred, he noticed, and this terrified him.

"I'm not going anywhere. Now, come on, deep breaths, I'm coming, okay?" He pulled out his ice-pick from his sack and began hacking at the ice barrier before him.

"N-no!" Her confused state of panic was only making the situation harder as the snow flurries picked up ferocity and ice spikes continued shooting up from the ground, only now they were closer to harming her than him.

"Elsa! You need to stop! You're going to kill us both!" He warned, before it dawned on him that a lack of caution on her part wasn't the problem.

"I'm so sorry!" she cried out quietly. Hurting him was exactly what she was afraid of, why else would she insist that he make a hasty retreat? She didn't particularly want to die here alone but, if it meant keeping his sister's friend safe, then that was what needed to happen.

"No, no, it's fine, Elsa! It's fine! I'm fine. We're fine, see? Breathe. Just-" he neared her, having gotten past the most significant icicles, but she fought against him as he pulled her to her feet. He was supporting most of her weight to keep her up, but she wasn't making it easy on him. "Damn it, Els. Work with me here!" he insisted but she was having none of it. He had no other choice. _'Man, I'm so gonna get arrested for this,'_ he thought as he pulled off his hat. Pulling her close, he forced the hat across her face, keeping it there as she struggled to get away. Before too long, she slumped into his arms, completely unconscious. He removed his hat as quickly as possible and laid her gently across the snow, noting that the flurries ceased their wild attack and settled into the gentle falling that had been occurring throughout the day, prior to this madness. His large hands grasped at her delicate wrist searching for a pulse. He momentarily drew back in shock at just how cold her bare skin was to the touch, but, then again, he'd heard that was natural for the Snow Queen. He tried again, this time filling with relief when he found the slightly less-than-steady beat of her heart, matched with her labored, but still there, breathing. "All right," he said, mostly to himself as he slid his arms underneath her and staggered to his feet, unsteady in the deep snow, "let's get you some help, Queenie."

He made his way over to his trusty steed (Okay, so his trusty steed was a slightly smelly reindeer. So what? It's not like anyone really was expecting him to be Prince Charming or anything, right?) and pulled himself up onto his back, nestling the platinum-blonde girl between Sven's neck and his protective arms. "C'mon, buddy. Get us back to Arendelle, and fast!" Sven nodded in agreement (or was that just Kristoff imagining his pet's understanding again?) and off they went, the cold air stinging the large man's face as they sped out of the mountains and towards the cobblestone streets of her kingdom.


	2. Chapter 2: Winter: Part Two

The next time Elsa opened her eyes, she found that she awoke into a sea of white. But it was not the white of the winter wonderland that awaited outside these walls, but a bright, sterile white. It reminded her of the medic's chambers in the castle, but it was not quite the same. These walls were smaller and in a bit of disrepair. But what in the world was she doing here? She attempted to turn over, stiff cotton sheets twisting around her legs, but a sudden burst of pain throughout her whole body made her stop. A half-suppressed squeak of discomfort echoed through the tiny room and it took the queen a moment to realize that the sound had come from her. Almost immediately, the door to the little room swung open, and a short, wiry man stepped in. "Ah, you're up. Good to see. Good to see," he said in a surprisingly deep voice. He shoved his thick glasses up his nose and stepped to her bedside, prodding at the bandages around her head.

"Ow, ow, ah, um, sorry, that kind of hurts," she mumbled, wincing as he worked. "I don't even know who you are or what I'm doing here."

The man gave her a sharp look and the usually regal woman was forced to shrink back into her pillow. "You were brought here. I treated you. And I am a fully capable physician if that's what you were implying, Your Majesty."

The way his voice changed when he referred to her by her title gave her the feeling that he wasn't a fan of hers. He wasn't the only one; there were still some that feared her for what happened this past summer. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to suggest that you weren't fully qualified. That's not what I meant. I'm just a bit hazy on how I even got here; that's keeping me a bit uneasy."

The man seemed to soften his gaze a bit, though he still did not smile. "You seem to be doing all right for the moment. I'll send in your friend. Maybe they can clear up a bit of the fuzz for you." He turned and left, leaving her even more confused. She didn't have many 'friends.' She had Anna, but they were family. Kai and Gerda were both more caretakers than friends. And Olaf, well, she couldn't imagine that anyone would be as calm as the doctor was if a talking snowman was sitting in their office.

Her questions were answered when Kristoff entered the room. She sat up suddenly, immediately regretting it. "AH-" she blurted, and the man in the room immediately looked concerned. "Hey, you okay? Should I get the doctor back in here?"

She shook her head, more vigorously than she should have in her current state. "No. No. That's okay. Just, a bit stiff is all." A lopsided smile grew across his face.

"Tough woman. I'm sure you feel like shit." His eyes widened a bit. "Ah, I'm sorry. Should probably watch my mouth around you. You're a lady after all, and a royal one at that."

The slightest of smiles crossed her lips. "Between you and I, I do feel quite, uh, _shitty_. Tell anyone I said that and I'll give you frostbite," she warned. He looked a bit worried and she let out a light laugh. "I'm kidding. Why does everyone think I'd actually intentionally freeze anyone? Is that really what I seem like?" Though she was still kind of smiling, he could tell that she really wanted an answer to that.

He shrugged. "People fear what they don't know." He coughed lightly, then decided to add something to his statement. "I know how much you care about Anna and Arendelle, though. No one who works as hard as you do for the sake of others can be all that bad, in my book."

She smiled again, this time wider than he'd ever seen, and as she looked up at him through her light lashes, it dawned on him that she, too, was just a girl. She had so many responsibilities and burdens, between her position and her powers, but she carried it all like a soldier, without complaint and without fanfare. But she wasn't that different than his innocent Anna. She was still vulnerable enough to blush at a compliment from a man, but forced into maturity by circumstance. He was impressed, the more he thought about it. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her voice. "Well, thank you. Thank you Mr.- uh-"

"It's Bjorgman. But I'd prefer if you would call me Kristoff, Your Majesty," he said with an awkward half-bow. She stifled a laugh at his attempt and nodded.

"Kristoff. Well, I'm sure any one of my advisors would be horrified if they heard you but, at least here in a private discussion such as this, you might just call me Elsa. The formalities get a bit tiresome all of the time. And, anyway, I suppose I owe you my life, though all the details are quite fuzzy, honestly," she admitted, rubbing at the bandages around her head.

"Oh. I didn't really do that much," he said casually. "You needed help. I brought you to a doctor I know, just outside Arendelle. I figured there might be a bit of commotion if word of this got into town."

She nodded. "I'm grateful for your quick-thinking. I wouldn't want to-" she stopped, gasping. "Oh my, Anna! She's probably awoken half the town to search for me!"

He shook his head. "Not to worry, Your- uh, Elsa. I told her that there was a minor incident with the weather and so you were staying at Oaken's. I'm sorry to have lied to her, I just didn't want her to worry before we knew how you were doing."

She was a bit taken aback. "That's perfectly all right. Thank you so much. How ever did you think through all of those details?"

He gave her a sly half-grin. "I may just be an ice harvester but I do have a brain, you know."

"Oh! I didn't mean to suggest- I don't doubt that you're very intelligent. It's just that most of my council probably wouldn't even be apt to handle things as competently as you did. Thank you. I'm very indebted to you, not that I wasn't already after all you did for Anna."

"It was my pleasure. All of it. You don't owe me anything." For a moment, they just smiled at each other, neither saying anything. Finally, he broke the silence. "So, uh, the doctor wants to check you out a little more thoroughly. Then, he'll give you something for the pain and we can go, if you feel up to it.

"Yes! I mean, yes, please. That sounds wonderful. Thank you, Christopher."

"It's Kristoff, actually."

She laughed and nodded. "I know. I'm just teasing you." She blushed, looking down. "I forget sometimes that I'm supposed to stay serious all the time."

He smiled, pleasantly surprised. "Fine by me. I like the lighter side of you, actually. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone that you have a sense of humor," he promised with feigned seriousness, before turning and leaving the room.

The queen, momentarily left alone, smiled to herself. He was a bit rough around the edges but he certainly had a unique charm to him. And she was completely serious when she told him that he had more common sense than most of her councilmen did. She would have to see what she could do about that. The doctor soon re-entered the room, gave her some sort of liquid that she was supposed to take as needed for the pain, and dismissed her. She thanked him fervently and, by the end of it all, he seemed to have warmed up to her a bit. She exited the building and, upon doing so, was met with the sight of Kristoff and his, uh, _pet._

"Ready, Els?" She smiled slightly at the nickname. "Sven's all fed and ready to go."

She blinked, confused. "You want me to ride that thing?"

The tall man crossed his arms, seriously. "'That thing' is Sven. And he's very safe, I assure you."

"Oh. Well, all right then. I'm trusting you here." She walked over to where they were standing and patted the creature's nose gently, looking more than a little nervous. "Hi there."

Kristoff watched her with moderate interest. "Have you ever seen a reindeer before?"

She blushed. "Yes! Well, not up close or anything." He laughed but didn't respond, instead pulled himself up onto Sven's back, reaching a hand down to her. She hesitantly took it and he pulled her up powerfully, but more gently than she had expected.

"Let's go, buddy," he said to his animal friend, who started clomping quickly towards their kingdom. His female companion held on to Sven's neck tightly, looking hilariously terrified for someone that normally seemed so strong. He casually wrapped one arm around her waist, ignoring how she jumped in surprise when he did so, in order to keep her steady. Before too long, she relaxed a bit, leaning back into him as they rode, even smiling a bit by the end of the journey. As they neared the castle gates, he removed his arm and pulled a cloak out of his bag. "Here. To cover the bandages. We don't want to alarm anyone." She nodded in agreement, pulling up the hood. Yet another thing he had thought through. He was impressing her more and more by the moment. They got inside the gates and were halfway through the grand foyer before they were caught- by Anna.

"Elsie! I'm so glad you're back!" She jumped her sister for a hug, but stepped back suddenly when she heard her sister moan in pain. "Elsie?" She pulled off her sister's hood and gasped. "What in the world happened?!"


End file.
